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hi all, I have lost 3 weekend events to someone who will do it for free!!

the someone is a church group which have gone out and purchased a 25 x 17 inflatable with big sound and are doing free movies in our local parks. Not even a pass the hat deal. Their thinking being they can persuade customers to head to their church on Sundays and fill the hats there as they get passed around. All this after I had been approached for the 3 weekends.

This is a tough one. I've never actually had to deal with a situation quite like this.

My first thought is whether the church is getting the proper licensing for their events. Typically, people who do events for free are not getting licenses (or don't even know that a license is required). If they are not paying for licensing than that puts you even more at a disadvantage. I would find this out first.

In the end however you might just need to consider this as lost business. I don't agree with what the church is doing. I understand that they want to get more people into the church, and donations are where their money comes from. But when it starts to hurt local businesses then that crosses the line, in my opinion.